Five types of email that customers actually read

Shannon Ingrey

14th Jul 2017

Many retailers don’t realise that the post-purchase period is a time when consumers are most receptive to your messages. And many still don’t realise the importance of creating personalised messages for recent buyers.

Rather than waste this opportunity with standard messages, it’s important to take the time to consider what consumers might want or need after the purchase and craft your messages accordingly.

These messages need not be limited to the traditional order and shipping confirmations or a plea for a product review, but should instead take customer engagement to the next level – by offering value, support, additional resources, or by simply continuing the conversation.

Give thanks

Customers love feeling appreciated, we all do. When it comes to post-purchase marketing, a simple “thank you” goes a long way. In fact, these are some of the best performing messages from a revenue standpoint. It’s not just the polite thing to do but it also incentivises them to make another purchase, or provides a customer service oriented call to action, such as linking to your customer service portal or a resource centre.

If consumers happen to take advantage of the incentive, you can then create a second, non-incentivised version that sends if the contact makes another purchase over a set number of days. This way, the customer will not expect an incentive every single time.

Create a series

The great thing about creating a series is that they can serve multiple purposes and have a variety of themes, but each one should be used to convey some sort of value proposition.

For example, providing helpful tips on how to care for a newly purchased product is a great way to provide value and build trust with a customer. Messages like this not only benefit the consumer, but it builds inherent value for the product purchased.

This can help create a connection between the customer and the brand. Think about other types of messages that can help build this engagement, such as a social “share with us messages”, re-order reminders, gift reminder services or even a product recommendation message.

If you have a loyalty program, be sure to talk about it in your messaging, too. It’s always a good idea to include loyalty points in each of your emails, or use specific messaging to ask people to sign up. If your program is spend-based, consider messaging that introduces these tiers and triggers messages when contacts are close to reaching the next level. This is also a great opportunity to include specific product recommendations to encourage the next purchase.

Get social

While social media’s influence in terms of sales can be difficult to quantify, there’s no denying its ability to help humanise brands and create a dialogue with customers.

Consider implementing socially-themed messages into your post-purchase messaging that call on your customer to share their experience. This includes introducing them to your social media sites, asking them to leave a review on Facebook, or even to share a photo of their purchase on social media for a chance to win a prize.

It’s all about balance

When constructing your post-purchase messaging, be sure to balance promotional content that encourages another purchase with other useful content that offers value to the customer.

For example, product care tips and additional resources benefit the customer, whereas cross-sell and reorder reminder messages benefit you. If all your messages ask customers to purchase from you, you’re not providing value to the subscriber. However, if every message only benefits the consumer, you’re likely leaving money on the table.

Make it personal

Consumers today expect more from their shopping experience, and that expectation will only continue to grow with the integration of new technology. By understanding the importance of targeted post-purchase messaging and meeting the demand for greater personalisation, you’ll not only drive revenue but build customer loyalty.

Shannon Ingrey is general manager of Oracle + Bronto Australia and has more than a decade of experience in e-commerce marketing and management. He specialises in international business development and operations and has been a driving force in growing leading brands in Asia Pacific and European territories.